A Brief History of Falling for Billy Hargrove [harrington x hargrove]

3.

The first time Steve and Billy fought just because they wanted to was at an ungodly hour next to the playground. Steve could barely see Billy in the scarce moonlight that seeped through the gathering clouds. Steve's hair wasn't done and he was wearing a pair of old, ill-fitting sweatpants but Billy was clothed in his usual attire of jeans and a barely buttoned shirt. He could even smell a slight waft of cologne. Billy must have told his parents he was going on a date. Steve almost felt flattered – Billy didn't seem like a guy who'd go to that much trouble just to meet up with someone. Then he realized that Billy was not really here for him, was he?

"Gloves?" Steve asked, looking down at his bare hands.

Billy fished out a roll of bandages from his front pocket. He threw them at Steve who pondered the cotton cloth for a moment.

"For your knuckles," Billy clarified, putting his hands into his back pockets.

"Yeah, I know. It's just... I'm just not very good at bandaging things. Even worse when one handed."

Billy didn't say anything. No mocking remarks passed his lips as he stepped closer to Steve, taking the bandages and instructing him to hold out his hands, palms down. He started wrapping Steve's knuckles, layering the cloth until it formed a tight cushion around his hands. Steve observed Billy's face, illuminated only by the moon and the faraway streetlights, and he thought he could see a thin stream of blood dripping from a split in his lip and an outline of a quickly forming bruise on his jaw.

But then Billy moved back into the shadows and his face was once again obscured by darkness. "All done," he said, already working on his own hands, tearing the bandage with his teeth when he was done. He didn't accept any help from Steve, even though he offered. Steve wasn't sure if it was because his pride wouldn't let him or because he didn't want to let Steve near enough to see him clearly again. So Steve kept his distance, wondering who this boy in front of him really was and what happened to him to make him this way. A boy who was a loner by choice, a boy who would rather be mean to everyone than let anyone get to him first, a boy who turned all his emotions into anger because sadness itself was too hard to bear (and Steve knew, because Steve was the same). Or maybe he was just an asshole who didn't give a fuck about anything at all. But in that moment Steve refused to believe he was that shallow – because there had to be a reason, depth, something, to Billy. There just had to.

"Ready?" Billy asked.

"Yeah," Steve breathed out because the force of his voice seemed too loud for the serenity of the night.

And so, without hesitation, Billy swung.